Spring Design's Alex is finally shipping and you can get it direct from their website for 399 dollars. It should be in Borders bricks and mortar stores this June. We take an in-depth look at Alex is this review and explore not just eBook reading on the 6" e-ink display but the Android 1.5 Cupcake experience on the lower 3.5" touch screen. While the Barnes and Noble nook shares a similar design philosophy, and in fact Spring Design worked on the nook design, Alex gives you the Android look and feel (and added apps) in the lower display while the nook runs a custom user interface.

Alex supports DRM and non-DRM ePub and PDF books that use standard Adobe Adept DRM, and that means you can read books purchased from Kobo Books, the Sony ebookstore and other sites, but not Amazon Kindle format books. There's a bookstore application on the digital reader that has links to several sites including Google free books and Gutenberg public domain titles.

Here's our video review, and stay tuned for our full written review in a day or two. Feel free to post questions .